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Danielle De Niese: The Mozart Album

Sunday, November 15, 2009

This week’s Full Rotation: Album of the Week features rising young soprano Danielle De Niese in a diverse collection of Mozart concert pieces and opera arias.

Don't let the alluring photography and gushing liner notes to The Mozart Album fool you: Danielle De Niese is a serious artist with a dramatic, agile voice and heaps of charm and charisma. Sure, the 30-year-old soprano is beautiful and trim and is being marketed accordingly. She recently performed at a chic Fifth Avenue boutique as part of an event sponsored by Vogue magazine.

But she is also a growing fixture at the world's major opera houses, notably the Metropolitan Opera, where she made her debut at age nineteen as Barbarina in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. She's back at the Met this fall in that same opera, this time playing a saucy Susanna.

Joining De Niese on this recording is a distinguished group of Mozartians: conductor Charles Mackerras and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. They support her agile lyric-coloratura voice in both familiar and unfamiliar pieces. Selections range from the uplifting motet Exsultate, jubilate to the passionate concert aria Bella Mia Fiamma, Addio! to opera arias from Figaro (an alternative aria for Susanna in Act Four), Idomeneo, Cosi fan tutte (a fabulously sarcastic Despina) and Don Giovanni. The latter pits her Zerlina against Bryn Terfel's virile Don in the ever-popular Là ci darem la mano.

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Comments [1]

seki
from Cleveland Ohio

Was it important to mention that she is beautiful and trim? What if she was large, or percieved to be ugly? I am not trying to be PC. I just remember the Deborah Voight saga. I also understand that is the way she is being marketed but just because this is being done by her record company does not mean you have to follow lockstep. When possible, please focus on the artistic talents or you may be required to mention physical features in future Full Rotation articles. Thank you.

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About Albums of the Week

The Albums of the Week are compelling new recordings that we spotlight every week. These include creative repertoire choices, engaging musical personalities and artistic statements that stand out from the pack. You can hear the Albums of the Week throughout the day and evening on WQXR.